


Fish in the Sea

by freshiewrites



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Swapfell Purple (Undertale), Angst, Anxiety, Depression, Emotional Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Lawyers, M/M, Mild Fluff, Other tags to be added, Panic Attacks, Past Abuse, Physical Abuse, Purple Swapfell, Violence, cause im not sure what all's going to happen, harrassment, male reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:47:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24615529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freshiewrites/pseuds/freshiewrites
Summary: You're having a bit of a hard time, but you've got some serious firepower in your corner.
Relationships: Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Sans (Undertale)/Reader
Comments: 17
Kudos: 73





	1. The Bus Ride

**Author's Note:**

> heya, i wasnt going to post this for a while cause i wanted to get more than two chapters written before posting any, but im really anxious so im treating myself XD
> 
> enjoy :D
> 
> some notes:  
> \- this is playing with my headcanon that all monster Undergrounds open on the same Surface  
> \- this is Cash/Plum/Reader, i have my own characterizations for them each

You were just riding the bus. You were not thinking about the thick letter sitting in your book bag, laying just next to you on the bus seat. So far no one had tried to sit next to you, thankfully, seeing as how you weren’t at all sure that you could handle talking right now. You would just sit there, dumb and silent until they finally gave you a weird look, like you’re crazy, and move to a different seat. 

It hadn’t happened yet, but it’d happened before, on other buses, so again, very thankful no one had tried yet. 

Still, you were waiting, with every stop more people climbed on for their commute home, and you were just waiting for one of them to give you that glance, the one that meant they expected you to pick up your shit and scoot over so they could sit. 

Part of you wanted to refuse, if it did happen, just leave your shit in the way and see what they did. But you definitely didn’t want to start a fight on the bus, in such close quarters. You were sure to lose. Too small, too weak. Especially with not eating breakfast that morning, great, you really were the disaster of the week. You’d have to eat something as soon as you got home, and then you’d deal with the letter.

The bus stopped once more, leaving you staring out the window gazing at the different people and buildings. At least, until you heard the sound of someone clearing their throat just next to you. You winced inwardly, glancing over and hoping it was for the seat adjacent to your own… only to find a tall skeleton staring down at you, purple hood pulled over their head, a single, bright purple eyelight staring down at you. 

Well. Now you had a choice. Either you pick up your crap and let him sit down, or you leave it there and make the dude think you’re racist. 

Decision pretty easily made, you moved your shit. He grunted, sitting next to you with little preamble. You politely didn’t stare at him, having met quite a few Fellgrounds monsters at your job; pissing them off was a fairly bad idea. Besides, you knew who this guy was. Everyone knew who Cash was, anyone that worked with any monsters from that particular Fellgrounds. Why his name was Cash  _ wasn’t  _ as obvious as the fact that if you made him angry, either he or his crazy brother would leave you gutted in an alley, left for the cops to try and figure out why they’d done it this time.

Cash was a member of the Guard, a sentry Underground as far as you knew, but on the Surface he was known as the Shadow. A stupid name but everyone in the city knew when it was him and his brother, rather than the random gangs or some shit. You’d never had personal dealings with either of them, but you knew about their work. Or, at least, as much as anyone random off the street did. 

Cash didn’t say anything, just sat next to you with his legs splayed as much as possible in the narrow bus aisle. You stayed out of his way, thoughts more and more focused on the stupid letter than they were on the killer sitting right next to you. You didn’t notice his gaze on you and your book bag, your own eyes fixed on the passing buildings and full streets. 

Finally you came to the rougher side of town, just waiting on the bus to get to your stop before you finally turned to Cash and glanced between him and the front doors.

“I gotta get out.” You mumbled, his sockets narrowing before he climbed out of his seat and into the aisle, your overweight frame squeezing past him as you headed for the open door. Stepping down and onto the sidewalk, you didn’t look back at the bus, only headed forward into the apartment building that waited for you. The receptionist nodded as you stepped inside, the lights a little too bright as you headed for the elevator. Once inside, the doors shut and hiding you from anyone’s eyes, your own began to steam tears, nose sniffling as you pressed the button for your floor. 

It was a short ride, the walk to your room interspersed with sniffles and choked off sobs, until you fought with the key and headed inside your apartment. It was only then that the dams broke, leaving you a sobbing mess on your own couch, book bag left abandoned on the side table.

It took a long time for you to calm down, your chest heaving with unshed tears as you finally forced yourself to the little kitchen, grabbing the white bread and making a few slices of toast to munch on. 

Your book bag sat, accusing, and so you finally got up and grabbed it, opening the flap and grabbing out the damn letter.

Signed by a local judge, it was a call to a hearing about the possible abuse and attempted murder of your past girlfriend… the one who claimed you’d tried to kill her.

The reality was much fucking different, but here was proof she was never going to let you just leave. She wanted you to suffer, slowly and surely, until you finally confessed to shit you didn’t do. 

Choking on a sob, you let the letter fall to the table, the red ink staining your soul. 

You had no idea what you were gonna do.

It turned out to be out of your hands anyways.

~.~

Boots clanged on the steps down into a basement, where a short skeleton was working tirelessly on a sheaf of paperwork nearly as thick as a multi-layered cake. Cash rolled his eye, flicking a cig out of the pack laying next to his brother, Plum only scoffing as he lit up.

“Can you do more than simply come in here and blow that nasty smoke everywhere?? I’m trying to work!” 

Cash scoffed, mocking, and jumped up to sit on the already rickety table. Plum glared at him, but stopped pre-tirade, purple eyelights widening. 

“You found someone.”

Cash grinned. “He don’t know it yet, but yeah. Found ‘im on the bus, nice little kindness soul, hasn’t got a lick of LV in him.”

Plum smiled, wide and sharp. “Perfect. Well, let’s not waste any time!! We must bring this little lamb into our fold… and get to work!!”

Shaking his head, Cash fiddled with the tag to his shirt as he spoke. “Got a little problem.”

“Which is??”

“He’s in trouble with the law. Checked ‘im out on the way back, he’s got a summons.”

Plum’s grin only widened. “Well good. I’m sure we can assure him of our good work. Go tomorrow and fetch him, I’ll prepare!”

Sighing a laugh, Cash nodded, stubbing out his cigarette in the container his brother always left out for him. Tomorrow he’d go get their “little lamb”. For now he was heading upstairs for a fucking sandwich.


	2. Meetings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woo next chapter!! i didnt want to let this sit too super long lol
> 
> enjoy :D mind the tags!!

Once again, you were taking the bus. It was part of your daily commute to and from work, which was at the library in the center of the city. The librarians all knew you by name, your work mostly in keeping up to date on late fees and keeping the place as clean as you could get it. They bought all the cleaning products, but gave you the option to pick what they bought, since you would know which brand did the best keeping the dust at bay.

You were just getting ready to get out of your seat, the doors up front opened to let you out just a block from the library, when someone sat heavily in the seat next to you, boxing you in. Your eyes widened, the tall person turned away just enough that you couldn’t see their face, but the general aura was one of a total jackass. 

“I need out, man, I-”

They turned to you and you were struck with the sight of that same purple eyelight, fixing you in its gaze as Cash grinned. 

“Need to talk to you, sweetheart. Mind callin’ in today?”

Your boss wouldn’t take issue with it, even if it was last moment, and especially if you lived long enough to tell her why. Shrugging, you waved off the bus driver who was staring back at the two of you, obviously wondering why you weren’t getting off, and sat back in the seat.

“Good, that’s good kid, you’ve got a smart head on ya. Now listen, I got a proposition.”

You nodded, not daring to look straight at him. There was a huff of air, before a single bony finger was tapping under your chin, prompting you to look up. You did, and found him staring at you with something undefinable in his eye. 

“Don’t worry, I’m not here to hurt you. ‘M pretty sure you got enough shit to worry about right now.”

Your mouth parted almost immediately to ask how he knew that, but that finger returned, tapping again to get you to close your mouth. You bit your tongue, watching as he took a pack of cigarettes out of his hoodie pocket, fishing one out with a little trouble.

“Anyways, the whole deal. My brother wants ta meet ya. We got an offer that, well, really no one would be stupid enough to refuse it, but you got options, yeah?” he said, flicking his lighter on with trembling fingers. You only nodded, watching the end of the cherry as it lit up a bright red.

He seemed to be waiting for you to say something, so you nodded. “Yeah, I can… I can hear you out.” Your voice came out quiet, something your ex always hated, but Cash just nodded, turning back to watch the aisle. 

“Great. You got a good head on you.”

And that was it for the conversation until the bus started heading outside of the city, making you wonder just how many times this bus driver had taken Cash back to the monster districts with a human in tow. He didn’t seem to even blink an eye as you went through the gated area, a guard coming on board long enough to check your and the three other humans’ on the bus IDs. When that was done they let you all climb out and take the shuttle bus into the actual monster city district, your eyes boggling as you saw the sheer variety of monsters just… living their lives. 

You were never a monsterphobe, more of a quiet supporter when you were able, but the monsters had their reasons for living in a more gated community than out integrated with the rest of the world. With so many Undergrounds that had opened up, there was no wonder they felt better together than separated. 

The shuttle slowly let people off, until you were so far into town that you’d be hopeless finding your way back out. You hadn’t realized that the shuttle had stopped again, Cash climbing out, until he gently tapped your window, startling you into grabbing your bag and quickly climbing out. You were in front of a small building with a glass front, the phrase “WE MEET YOU AT YOUR WORST!” emblazoned on the glass itself in white paint. Cash padded up to the door, opening it and looking back at you, your feet aching a little as you hurried and walked inside.

It was cozy, with a fireplace in the corner, and a front desk with a three eyed bird monster manning the reception. Cash simply nodded to them, waving for you to follow him back past all the waiting chairs and into the hall that led back to what you assumed were the offices. Bypassing them all, he led you to a door at the very end of the hall, down some metal stairs and into a well lit basement, several desks laid against the walls with swivel chairs sitting in front of them. There was also a large wooden table, the legs looking too thin to hold up the sturdy looking top, a few chairs sitting around it.

“Have a seat, bro’ll be here in a sec.” Cash said simply, reclining back into one of the chairs himself. You followed suit, laying your bag on top of the tab and wincing as the legs wobbled. 

There was silence for a few minutes, you trying to decide if playing on your phone would be considered rude or not. Nothing about this situation was clear or straightforward. Nothing about it was normal, especially since you were still wondering if they were planning on killing you.

Why you, no idea. But it made more sense than them wanting you for anything else you could have been brought here for.

The slam of the door upstairs opening brought your jumping attention back to the present, eyes following the shorter but no less menacing skeleton as he tromped down the stairs. He stared at you with bright purple eyelights for a moment, the color reminiscent of Cash’s, so you assumed this was the notorious crazy brother. You were… not going to say that out loud.

“Ah, the human who has impressed my brother so much!!” He exclaimed, striding over and sticking his hand out for a shake. You hesitated, gingerly beginning to stick out your own hand, only to snatch it back as Cash cleared his throat.

“I wouldn’t do that, kiddo.”

The shorter skeleton, Plum you thought his name was, gave Cash a glare that would have had you changing your name and moving out of the country. “Papy, you always ruin my fun! Shit, I never get to  _ get  _ anyone, joy killer…” he muttered, stalking over to one of the desks and dropping what looked like a joy buzzer onto it. You almost laughed, the feeling of maniacal confusion bubbling up in your throat hard to hold back even as Plum strode back over, this time with a large pile of papers.

“Alright, Mr. _____, lets get to business! We wish to hire you!!” 

You felt your mouth open, you knew it did, but no sounds came out. They wanted to… what??

“You want to  _ hire  _ me??”

Plum rolled his eyes. “Of course? Why wouldn’t we want to hire you, you have a very good record of working with your human bosses, I’m sure you’ll fit in just fine here! Even with possible court cases rising on the horizon, we need good people like you to work with us! Give monsters a bit more of a Grand Image in society!”

You raised a hand, hoping he’d slow down a little. “You… you looked up my work history, you know about my life, you scoped me out… what is the job even for? I thought…”

Cash snorted. “What, you thought you were a target? That we were gonna snuff ya?”

Ashamed, but only a little, you nodded. That got an actual snort out of him, Cash choking with laughter as Plum rolled his eyes. 

“Don’t mind this idiot. Let me explain.”

With your nod of permission he went into a grand explanation of just who they were (some kind of Lawyer Agency, apparently, that had straight ties to the Queen herself), what they did (again, lawyer work for monsters in the human law system, you assumed), and what they expected from you.

If you understood right… “You want me to be your assistant?”

Plum snapped his fingers. “Precisely!!”

You shook your head, a little disbelieving. “Are you sure? I’m not that… I’m not anyone special.”

Now both brothers were staring at you, undefinable looks in their eyes, the stare making you more and more uncomfortable the longer the silence went on until Cash finally broke it.

“Don’t gotta be special. Just gotta work hard and help us out. We take care ‘o our own.”

Plum nodded in agreement, and produced what you assumed was the first page of a long contract. “Are you interested?”

Sighing, you stared hard at the paper, before gently taking the pen offered. 

What the hell did you have to lose?


	3. Text Messages

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay more content :D
> 
> i hope you all enjoy, mind the tags!!

You were woken a few nights later by the tone of your phone going off, the pings of a text making you wake from a dead sleep. She’d ingrained it into your head pretty early on that if she texted, and you didn’t answer right away, there’d be hell to pay. So, shaking off the last dregs of sleepiness, you started to check your phone, only to realize that you were still in your new apartment, a few cities away from where she lived now. Still, you checked your phone with blinking eyes, heart sinking as you recognized the typing patterns.

**Never Answer:** _Well are you happy, bitch?_

You knew if you answered, if you tried to explain your side of the situation, there would only be more of a price on your head. But if you left it alone… if you just ignored her, there was every chance she’d use that against you as well. 

There were no good options. Zero paths you could take without getting hurt more than you already had been, and yet… something in you that sounded suspiciously like a calmer version of Plum, telling you to just ignore it. So you did.

You blocked the number, turned your phone off, and laid back down to drift into a fitful sleep. You really only dozed, afraid of when the morning came and you’d have to turn your phone back on in order to see if the brother’s were going to put you to work yet. You dreamed about it, when you finally did pass out, waking up in a cold sweat that had you thanking the stars that you were just dreaming.

Still, the morning came eventually, as it always did. You took your time getting ready, washing your hair, brushing your teeth and putting on what little makeup you allowed yourself these days. You ate breakfast, watched the news, gulped down a cup of orange juice and then headed to your bedroom, where the phone sat innocently on the nightstand. Picking it up, you took a deep breath to console yourself, and then turned it on.

Your heart tightened as you saw the amount of missed messages, all from different numbers, all basically saying the same things, not a single one of them from the skeleton brothers. Hurriedly you shot a text off to Plum saying that you were going to work at the library today, getting back a simple, “OKAY” in return. Turning your phone back off as yet another nasty message came through, your stomach feeling progressively more sick, you grab your messenger bag and head out to catch the early bus.

Your fellow employees at the library don’t ask about your absence, and you don’t offer any information. It's no one’s business that you were being employed by the nefarious Skeleton Brothers, and it was no one's business that they were going to help you out with your court case.

Really, you hadn’t had anyone to talk to about any of this anyways. Most of your “friends” had also been  _ her  _ friends, and no one had taken your side after you’d left. It left you alone in a big city with no one to tell your problems. Not that you really wanted to bother anybody with your issues, but sometimes it would have been nice to not be alone.

“Hey kid, you got your break coming up soon?” 

You nearly jumped out of your skin, dropping a few of the books you were putting on the shelves as Cash chuckled beside you, bending over to pick them up and set them on the shelf for you as he gave you an amused look. 

You only remembered he’d asked you a question when a brow raised, your face going a little red.

“Y-yeah, in like ten minutes."

Cash grinned, something in it reminiscent of a shark. “Well then surely we can go ahead and take off.” His hand gently took hold of your left shoulder, something in your flinching as he shrugged, and suddenly you were in a new place. 

It was a cafe nearly a half hours walk into the city, something you knew because it was your favorite place to eat and you’d made the walk before, in the rain, to get some damn comfort ice cream.

“How did you…” You breathed, before snapping your mouth shut and following him up to the counter. You had to count out the change to get your usual, a club sandwich with no tomatoes and extra bacon, with a nice tall soda to wash it down.

Cash himself got a steakburger with extra mayo, with a much smaller soda to go with it. 

You both sat at a table to wait for your food, your fingers tangling with each other as he played on his phone and didn’t look up at you again until your food arrived. 

He’d taken a big bite, you pushing fries around your plate until he finally seemed to notice your unease.

“You still thinkin’ we’re out ta get you?” Cash asked, straight and simple. You shook your head, quickly.

“No, no, I just… I don’t know why I’m here?”

Cash grinned. “Why is anyone here.” 

At your deadpan look he laughed, but nodded in deference.

“We figured out about the harassment texts. We need the receipts so we can use them in court.” 

Something inside you twisted, your face crinkling in anger and fear as you opened your mouth to demand just how they’d gotten a hold of information like that… when it hit you.

They weren’t taking the information. They could have, could have taken your phone, stolen everything dear to you, just to get what they wanted. But… they weren’t. They were asking, plain and simple, and really seemed like they were wanting to help.

Whether or not helping got them something out of it, say, your undying loyalty and work, well. Maybe if they won you this case, got her off your back, maybe just maybe you’d owe them that.

As it was, you took a big bite of your club, savored the bite, then nodded. “Tell me what I have to do.”

**Author's Note:**

> if you enjoyed, consider leaving a comment :D they really make my day ^^


End file.
